fluid dynamics

Advanced Multiphysics Modelling Reduces Cost of Ownership of LED Production Equipment

AIXTRON AG, headquartered in Aachen, THE CHALLENGE Germany, is a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. • Reducing the high manufacturing cost Established in 1983, the company's technology of LEDs to help accelerate widespread solutions are used by a diverse range of LED adoption customers worldwide to build advanced • Providing accurate control of layer components for electronic and opto-electronic composition and thickness of chemical applications based on compound, silicon, reactors and basic deposition process or organic semiconductor materials. These technology for MOVPE components in turn are used in fiber optic communication systems, wireless and mobile • Proving ability to reduce the cost Example of architectural lighting telephony applications, optical and electronic of ownership of LED production with white LEDs. storage devices, computing, signaling and equipment lighting, as well as a range of other leading-edge technologies. HIGH MANUFACTURING COST: KEY BARRIER TO T H E STO RY WIDESPREAD LED ADOPTION The lighting industry is experiencing a fundamental change as revolutionary as the introduction of “AIXTRON has used CFD-ACE+ for more digital cameras has been to photography. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), either based on compound than ten years for our modelling needs. semiconductors or novel organic polymers – referred to as OLEDs, Organic Light Emitting Diodes – The advanced multiphysics modelling are substantially more energy efficient in converting electricity into light, last longer, and are more capabitility of CFD-ACE+ helps evaluate versatile due to their small size than the traditional incandescent light bulb. In addition, LED lighting the impact of key process and reactor contributes to energy conservation and reduces CO2 emission. design parameters on performance The High Brightness LED market grew at an impressive 25-30% average annual growth rate from criteria like the uniformity of layer 2001 to 2006 and is expected to continue, with a market projection of $9 billion by 2011. In spite of thickness and composition on wafer recent productivity advances, the major roadblock to their widespread adoption remains the high and from wafer to wafer, the growth manufacturing cost of LEDs. efficiency and the robustness of the process. At AIXTRON, upfront modelling analysis has become an integral part of MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF THIN FILM any development project that involves DEPOSITION PROCESSES FOR MOVPE WITH the reaction chamber of an MOVPE ESI GROUP’S CFD-ACE+ MULTIPHYSICS reactor.” CFD SOFTWARE LEDs based on compound semiconductors are by far the most common type today, and are usually composed of multiple thin layers of so called III-V semiconductors. The method of choice for THE BENEFITS making LEDs is Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE), a deposition technique using gaseous metalorganic and hydride species. The precursors are supplied to the MOVPE reaction chamber • Aixtron reduced the cost of ownership with a flow of carrier gas at a process pressure below atmosphere, and the monocrystalline solid of production scale MOVPE reactors thin film is formed on heated substrates at temperatures from 600°C to 1400°C, depending on • Lowering the ownership cost of material and application. MOVPE reactors in turn reduced the AIXTRON AG develops, manufactures and markets chemical reactors and basic deposition process cost of LED manufacture technology for MOVPE, a highly precise chemical process used for the production of optoelectronic devices. The accurate control of layer composition and thickness, which can be as low as a few • Employing modelling and simulation is nanometers, with uniformity requirements on multiple substrates of less then +/- 1% deviation key to reducing the technological risk from the mean value, poses a formidable challenge to reaction chamber and process design. and the time-to-market for product Multiphysics modelling and simulation of semiconductor deposition processes has become an innovations indispensable tool to meet accuracy requirements of the sensitive MOVPE process. AIXTRON

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